the nfl draft allowing players to come to the area. >> thanks. >> good night. on our broadcast tonight, a new twist in the investigation in boston. a report that the bombers intended to strike new york next. chemical weapons in syria. u.s. intelligence now believes they have already been used. the question now, does the u.s. act? up in the air. a firsthand look at the nightmare for travellers this week, as members of our own team fan out to record what's happening on board all these delayed flights. and mother knows best. as five u.s. presidents gather for the opening of the george w. bush library, it's something his mother said that got a lot of political attention today. mother said that got a lot of political attention today. "nightly news" begins now. captions paid for by nbc-universal television

good evening. the details about their possible plans are sketchy, but investigators now say the two brothers, the accused terrorist bombers in boston, were headed here to new york and authorities in this city say their plan was to blow off explosive devices. with one dead and one hospitalized we'll now thankfully never know what would have happened in boston, the damage, the human toll is bad enough. we begin again tonight with our justice correspondent pete williams. >> reporter: investigators say they have been told that while the bombing suspects were fleeing from boston in an suv they carjacked last thursday night, they came up with the idea of driving to new york, taking along a half dozen bombs they had with them. >> in the car, they made a decision to go to new york with the remaining explosive devices they had and to detonate one or more in times square. >> reporter: police say one of

the men, dzhokhar tsarnaev, had visited times square at least one time last year. thursday night police caught up to them in watertown. this photo shows the suv after the shootout with police. now, new questions about whether the interrogation of the surviving suspect was stopped too soon. the chairman of the house intelligence committee says he's been told that a judge came to the hospital to read dzhokhar tsarnaev his rights before interrogators were done questioning him. >> that's dangerous and concerning, especially when the fbi will tell you, we weren't quite finished with him. we didn't believe we had all we could get out of him. >> reporter: in response the fbi and justice department say the judge's arrival monday was not a surprise, and that 16 hours after the interrogation began, time was running out before he had to be read his rights. in dagestan, tsarnaev's father said he plans to return to the u.s. shortly. his mother zubeidat said she

regrets that the family ever came to the u.s. in the first place. >> i thought america was going to like protect us, our kids are going to be safe for any reason. but it happened opposite. but just -- america took my kids away from me. >> reporter: back in watertown, police were at the scene where tsarnaev was found wounded in a boat. officials say he had no gun. they are trying to determine why the police began shooting in the first place. one of the survivors of the bombing, heather abbott of rhode island who lost part of her left leg said the support from the hospital and strangers has been uplifting. >> i'm sure at some point i will be interested in the details and have an opinion about, you know, the individuals that did this. but i just haven't let my mind go there at all. >> reporter: ten days after the bombing, 32 survivors remain in boston-area hospitals, one of them in critical condition.

brian? >> pete williams in our d.c. newsroom tonight. pete, thank you. another big story we are following tonight. the u.s. intelligence community now believes chemical weapons have been used in syria. president obama has previously said that would be crossing a red line for the assad regime. our pentagon correspondent jim miklaszewski is traveling with defense secretary hagel in the middle east where he learned more about this today. >> reporter: after two years of syria's bloody civil war, the obama administration inched ever so slightly today toward u.s. military intervention. secretary hagel speaking for the white house accusing syria of using chemical weapons. >> the u.s. intelligence community assesses with some degree of varying confidence that the syrian regime has used chemical weapons on a small scale in syria. >> reporter: it's believed traces of sarin were found in blood samples taken from victims of an attack last month in aleppo.

president obama has warned syria's use of chemical weapons would be what he's called a game-changer that could trigger military action. >> that's a red line for us. there would be enormous consequences. >> reporter: the administration has never spelled out what those consequences would be. they stressed today the evidence so far is not strong enough. >> we still have some uncertainties about what was used, what kind of chemical was used, where it was used, who used it. >> reporter: but on capitol hill today republicans demanded military intervention. >> i think it's pretty obvious that red line has been crossed. >> reporter: u.s. military options could include cruise missile strikes against regime targets as ground forces seize syria's chemical weapons. but could such a high risk ground mission succeed? >> not as i sit here today, simply because they have been moving it and the number of sites is quite numerous. >> reporter: while administration officials insist any u.s. military option would

be a last resort. those same officials compare the current situation in syria to iraq where the u.s. went to war over weapons of mass destruction that didn't exist. as one senior official put it, we have seen that bad movie before. brian? >> all right. jim miklaszewski traveling with the defense secretary in abu dhabi tonight. all of this, of course, puts the obama administration in a tough spot now. for more on that let's bring in our chief foreign affairs correspondent andrea mitchell. this hardly comes at a time when the u.s. is anxious to get into another conflict. >> reporter: not at all. officials tell me they know because of a wmd legacy from the iraq debate they need hard evidence chiefly to persuade russia, syria's remaining ally in the u.n. security council. they have to persuade russia that the assad regime did use deadly sarin gas against its own people. secretary kerry talked to his russian counterpart this week in brussels. so far as mick reported the u.s. intelligence only has

conclusions based on blood samples and other evidence from two attacks last month. no absolute proof. they still have to connect the dots. tonight senate intelligence chair dianne feinstein complained that by going public the white house may let a desperate assad who is cornered think he has nothing to lose by increasing the use of chemical weapons. this is a signal to assad we have eyes on you. we will not let you get away with it. brian? >> andrea mitchell in our washington bureau. andrea, thank you. in dallas, texas, one of those moments in history. all of the living presidents at an event that's an expected part of your post presidency, the opening of a presidential library. in this case, george w. bush. it was a ceremony of laughter, genuine emotion, camaraderie. nbc's david gregory covered the bush white house for us and has our report from the smu campus in dallas. >> reporter: it is a rare sight -- the five men who make up the most exclusive club in the

world. four formers and the current president, politicians all, who today in texas put politics aside. all here for president george w. bush. back in the spotlight he's sought to avoid. his sense of humor unchanged. >> there was a time in my life when i wasn't likely to be found at a library, much less found one. >> reporter: what these men share is respect for how difficult the job is. >> there are moments where you make mistakes. there are times where you wish you could turn back the clock. what i know is true about president bush and i hope my successor will say about me is that we love this country and we do our best. >> reporter: president bill clinton spoke about his work with president george herbert walker bush after leaving office. >> people began to joke i was getting so close to the bush family i had become the black sheep son. my mother told me not to talk too long today.

barbara, i will not let you down. >> reporter: president jimmy carter credited bush for his initiatives against aids and poverty in africa. >> i'm filled with admiration for you and deep gratitude for you about the great contributions you have made to the most needy people on earth. >> reporter: it was the presence of a now more frail, elder president bush that made the day even more personal. >> this is very special for barbara and me. >> reporter: with help he stood to acknowledge the crowd. as for the library itself, the archives include 43,000 artifacts including a piece of twisted steel from the world trade center. the 9/11 attacks coming only eight months into mr. bush's first term are a central theme. >> when our freedom came under attack we made tough decisions required to keep the american people safe. >> reporter: what critics will seize on at the library -- that

the iraq war is treated here as part and parcel of the par on terror, an argument many reject. but president bush told matt lauer this morning on "today" the exhibit is factual. >> do you think you will convince people that was an unjust war, the wrong war at the wrong time that perhaps you were right? >> look, the whole purpose is to lay out the facts as i saw them at the time. people will make their own judgments. >> reporter: today was not a day for disagreements. it was, instead, a day for family and country. a day to see a former leader, however divisive as a man. >> it was the honor of a lifetime to lead a country as brave and as noble as the united states. whatever challenges come before us, i will always believe our nation's best days lie ahead. god bless. [ applause ]

>> reporter: understandable emotion from the former president. i had a chance to speak with with former british prime minister tony blair in an interview that will air on sunday on "meet the press." he said after taking that in with the great accent, he said what a wonderful "add-ver-tiss-ment" for america. >> david gregory at smu campus in dallas. summer vacation season, it occurs to me, almost upon us. i hope americans see the presidential libraries across the country. david, thank you. what was perhaps the political moment of the day came before the dedication ceremony got under way. this morning on "today" matt lauer sat down with the women of the bush family and got around to the question of whether jeb bush should run for president, something he's said to be considering. >> do you think jeb bush would run? would you like to see him run? >> sure. he'd be terrific. he'd be a wonderful president. but who knows? we don't know. we're letting him decide. >> the fact that gammy didn't talk at all, i'm proud of you.

>> mrs. bush, would you like to see jeb run? >> he's by far the best qualified man, but no. i really don't. i think it's a great country. there are a lot of great families. it's not just four families or whatever. there are other people out there that are very qualified. we have had enough bushes. >> have you expressed that to him. >> well, now. >> just on "today". >> surprise! >> i'm not sure what jeb will make of that. laura bush said she loved every moment of life in the white house. when matt asked barbara bush today what she missed about it she answered, not one darn thing. after the opening ceremony today president obama traveled from there to a very somber, very sad place -- waco, texas. in front of the stage, a dozen flag-draped coffins. a public memorial for the people who died in that massive explosion of the fertilizer depot in the nearby town of west, texas.

14 killed in all. the blast after a huge fire had broken out, levelled the building, devastated so much of the town. 12 of the dead were first responders who were trying to fight the fire. president obama said the nation stands with the small town where just about everyone has been touched by grief. >> we may not all live here in texas, but we are neighbors, too. we're americans, too. we stand with you and we do not forget. we'll be there even after the cameras leave. >> a day of great extremes in the state of texas today. the president and first lady later comforted the families in private. investigators are still trying to determine the cause of the original fire that sparked the disaster. still ahead for us tonight, the huge traffic jam in the skies above america and on the ground. tonight, we send our team into the air to record what these flight delays are like and would you believe number 30 for

takeoff? and later a revolutionary new exam hoping to diagnose a hidden medical issue in so many american children.

on any given day there are 87,000 flights over our country. it's a workable air travel system at best. when it goes bad, it's awful. it's been awful for so many people this week because of air traffic delays brought on by the political paralysis and those forced budget cutbacks known as the sequester. because of what's happening -- or not happening -- in washington, it has been a miserable week for air travel delays. we sent four nbc news correspondents out to document their travels over these past 24 hours. nbc's tom costello tonight with a look at how it all went. >> reporter: the air space between washington and new york is some of the most congested in

the country. we are going to get on the 9:00 shuttle and see how it goes. it all started well. >> good morning. >> reporter: u.s. airways did its job. we pushed back from the gate five minutes early. then things changed. it's 9:00. we are supposed to leave now to go to new york. the captain just announced we have an air traffic delay and won't be leaving until at least 9:30. >> the delay in d.c. was just because the sequester was a 32-minute delay. >> reporter: thankfully the pilots made up the time and we got to laguardia at 10:07. things didn't go so well for stephanie gosk who flew from columbus to newark. >> this flight was supposed to land around 7:00 in newark. it's now 9:30. the good news, we are on the ground. the bad news, we are in allentown, pennsylvania. we were going to run out of gas because newark couldn't let us land. >> reporter: passengers not so happy. >> they could save money in a million other ways. they have furloughs to key people that they need to keep

planes in the air. >> reporter: today, southwest airlines ceo accused the f.a.a. of failing to tell the airlines where the delays might be most acute. >> there are suggestions we should adjust schedules but we have no idea on a day-to-day basis where we might need to adjust our schedules. >> reporter: meanwhile as republicans blamed the white house and the white house blamed republicans, nbc's gabe gutierrez flew round trip from the nation's busiest airport. >> no delays round trip from atlanta to miami. both flights arrived on time. >> reporter: nbc's diana alvear had no problems flying round trip l.a. to las vegas. >> just landed at los angeles. >> reporter: on my return flight to d.c., a slow down. so the captain just told us we are number 30 for departures and the delays he blames on the sequester. >> we'll keep you posted. thanks for your patience. >> reporter: flight 2173 landed in washington an hour late. the senate is working on emergency legislation tonight that would essentially put furloughed air traffic controllers back in the towers. we are told the white house may

support the legislation. one incentive is the senate would really like to get out of town tomorrow to start their week-long recess. brian. >> tom costello after a day of pretzels in the air. tom, thanks for your trouble. what a mess. we are back in a moment with a beautiful tribute sending a powerful message.

a wild night in mobile last night as explosions and fires tore through two barges, seven blasts in all. the fires burned through the night, left three people in critical condition with burns. the blast was felt ten miles away. it was last in the news because the carnival cruise ship triumph is undergoing an overhaul a short distance away. a new study from yale new haven says there may be a new tool to predict who is at risk for autism at the time of birth. the study finds in families with a high genetic risk for autism, the placenta at the time of

birth showed abnormal folds and creases in them. a doctor compared it to a warning light on a car dashboard. a sign of possible trouble ahead. these days about 15% of placentas are analyzed to look for indicators of health problems before being discarded. what an impactful cover of the may issue of "boston" magazine. after disaster struck their city, the design staff got to work on an idea. gather running shoes used in the marathon to form a vivid symbol of perseverance and unity. a companion to the essays inside the issue called "the shoes we wore." the magazine will arrive at boston news stands starting friday. when we come back here tonight, the surprising answer to solving a problem for millions of american children.

>> announcer: the big idea brought to you by the brilliant minds and machines of ge. finally tonight they say one in four to kids in the u.s. has an undiagnosed vision problem and the standard eye test for it is more than 150 years old. it misses some eyesight problems. tonight's big idea, part of a new series of reports comes from

a surgeon who thinks he has found a better way. his story tonight from nbc's diana alvear. >> for the first five years of his life this was hunter vogel's world. he passed two standard eye exams but mom tiffany, a school nurse, was still worried. >> i just kind of knew something wasn't right. >> reporter: then he attempted a new vision test. this time, a much different result. >> oh, man. i got it wrong. >> he failed it all which was good. it was kind of an answer to, wait a minute, maybe he's not seeing. >> reporter: not only could he not see clearly the test showed he had a serious degenerative eye disease. >> what's even more heartbreaking than to be told over and over your child is fine and then find out they have a problem is to find out they have a problem but now they are too old to treat it. >> reporter: dr. james o'neil knew there had to be a better way, so he teamed up with entrepreneur richard turendi to create eye spy 2020. >> i never expected to hear kids say, "can i play it again." >> reporte that's because to

kids, it's a game. >> we get to jump over an alligator with a rope. >> reporter: a patch isolates each eye for a more accurate exam. a pair of 3-d glasses tests depth perception in stereo vision. >> looks like it's red, the words. sometimes blue. >> reporter: this nonprofit has tested almost 200,000 children like these in phoenix. identifying those whose vision problems might otherwise go untreated. >> as soon as a child has been put into a pair of glasses, everything for that child changes. their behavior, their confidence, their self-esteem. >> reporter: hunter's case goes beyond glasses. every day his mom patches his left eye to strengthen the right. >> if i don't wear the patch every day, i might get blind. i don't want to get blind or i'll be sad. >> reporter: his vision improved so much he can now play soccer. a bright future, one he sees clearly thanks to a simple game

saving children's vision. diana alvear, nbc news, phoenix. that's our broadcast on a thursday night. thank you for being here with us. i'm brian williams. we'll look for you right back here tomorrow evening. we'll look for you right back here tomorrow evening. good night. -- captions by vitac -- www.vitac.com >> new tonight at 6:00, and only nbc bay area. a crackdown on massage parlors that are offering more than an honest rub. one east bay city is getting creative on how it is policing these businesses. nbc bay area is in fremont this evening. i understand police are teaming up with another agency to combat this. >> reporter: that's right. police say a couple of weeks ago they started to hit up five

locations because they got reports of illegal adult activities. one spa was in this popular plaza. they say they are remodeling. the city says it temporarily shut it down for building code violations leaving the place with something called the red tag. the lights are off, the doors are locked because police teamed up with code enforcement officers for the first time to shut down five massage parlors. >> we could tell from a couple of our visits there was adult-oriented activity taking place. >> she says one of the visits was here at perfect sunny spa off of warm springs boulevard in the fremont springs boulevard. >> the manager as soon as she saw our officers walk in she hit a light switch that turned on every light in the establishment as an alarm. >> officers did a room by room check and in one case a female